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What I am about to tell you may get me in hot water with all those self help experts and schools that promote home inspection courses and basically anyone who makes money off of new home inspector’s. That’s OK I can take the heat.

First let’s take care of the myth that a home inspector can make $20,000 to $30,000 a year part time and $60,000 to $80,000 full time. This myth is perpetuated by educators and self help experts. The reality is that you do not make any where near that type of money in the first year, maybe the second year but for most it’ll be the third year. Many new inspectors are not aware of this reality and become disillusioned and do one of two things either quit or slash their inspection fees hoping to gain more business. The latter is not a good idea because it will hurt your fellow inspectors and more than likely you’ll quit finding that the lower fees won’t pay the bills.

Another reality that you are not informed about is cost. It can cost you a pretty penny from thermal cameras, high tech equipment to educational courses. These could cost you between $10,000 and $15,000 and that doesn’t even include vehicles, licenses, errors and omission and general liability insurance, association fees etc… Are you scared yet? you should be.

You need to walk into this with your eyes open and you’ll be OK. Oh, and by the way you will need a second income to survive. Don’t get me wrong, this is a great industry to get involved in and the rewards can be great in the long term and the key words are long term. You need to develop a game plan and stick to it through thick and thin and it should involve a lot of marketing, website development and personal study. Below are some quick pointers to guide you along the right path.

Before you start anything do your research and the first place to hit is the industries message boards. Here you will feel the pulse of the industry from new and seasoned inspectors. Go to local chapter meetings. When you have completed that first step and feel you still want to become an inspector research your local community and see if it can support another inspector at this time. In the big urban areas this is not as much a factor as it is in rural areas.

If you are still interested then it is time to research your education. Research your home inspector schools, not all are created equal. Pick the best one that fits your budget. If you have a trades background you’ll have a leg up, but remember building, repairs and installation are different animals than inspecting. If you do not have a trades background it’s time to hit the books and read on everything about the systems of a home.

You should also join a national association, the three biggies in the U.S. are the International Association of Certified Home Inspectors, American Society of Home Inspectors and National Association Of Home Inspectors. In Canada you have the Canadian National Association of Certified Home Inspectors and Canadian Association of Property and Home Inspectors. For dollar value I think InterNACHI is the best with the amount of free education and member benefits they offer inspectors. Many states and provinces have their regional associations as well, think about joining them they represent you at a local level.

Now that you are on your way to becoming a home inspector, another item that should be in your arsenal is your reporting software. The most popular are Home Inspector Pro, Home Gauge and 3D. I personally use HIP because of it’s ease of use. The other inspecting programs are just as good. You need to research which one will suit your needs. They all offer free trial downloads so that you can experiment with them. Remember, you definitely need software, checklists are so 80’s and 90’s that they scream newbie. Also get a website that matches your software. In this day and age of online shopping you are basically dead without one.

I have given you some reality checks and some pointers even though I did not touch on many things that will effect you, that is part of your research assignment about entering the property inspection field. Remember my warning, this isn’t a get rich quick scheme, instead it is a lot of hard work and long hours. If anyone tells you differently they are doing you a disservice. So take off those rose colored glasses, get down to some hard work and a lot of studying, some heart breaking moments which will eventually be followed by elation and join me in this wonderful world of home inspections.

Home inspection is an integral part of real estate investment. If you are considering buying a property, you should hire home inspection service. Most people do not realize how important it is to find a home inspector, whether you are selling your house or buying a new one. Bluntly, some inspectors are less credible when it comes to their background and qualifications. In order to find a home inspector that suits your liking and preferences, the following should be considered as a resource:

The California Real Estate Inspection Association (CREIA) – Most legitimate businesses in San Diego and the rest of California are members of CREIA. If you ask reputable real estate brokerages, most of them require their agents to work with members of this association. As with most states, a particular member of an association cannot advertise its connection with a particular group until this member has reached the strict minimum standards of a practicing member. CREIA has developed Standards of Practice that define the minimum scope of a home inspection. It also has a Code of Ethics that requires its members to exhibit the highest levels of professionalism, integrity, dedication, and good faith in any dealings with the client. By doing these, associations like CREIA ensures clients that they are dealing with a reputable and reliable home inspection service provider.

Another surefire way of finding a qualified inspector for your home is by asking for opinions and feedback. Talk to friends who have had inspection services recently. How satisfied are they to the services of the inspector? Did their inspector do a great job? You can also ask them the processes that they went through in finding the house inspector for their residence.

If you have a trusted real estate agent, ask for some recommendations. Agents deal with house inspections everyday. They often have first-hand experience on how home inspectors work and they surely know who the good inspectors are. However, take care not to immediately get the services of your real estate agent, unless you completely trust him. Usually, agents recommend the ones who will help them get the deal that they want. Ask the agent at least three references and then use these names as a starting point in your search for a home inspector.

If you do not know friends who have had a home inspection service or an agent who can give referrals, you may utilize the yellow pages to find a home inspector. If you live in San Diego, search for local names first before moving on the companies in other states. Try searching online yellow pages because they have feedback pages where you can check out what other people are saying about a particular service provider.

Before you finally hire the services of the home inspector, remember to check out the home inspector of your choice. Secure copies of their previous inspection reports to determine how thorough they are when it comes to home inspection. Ask about their record of accomplishment. Ask for the names of their specific clients and if possible, try calling a few of their previous clients to find out if the home inspection service did a good job with them. It will not hurt to ask so that you are sure that what you would be paying is worth your money.

Home inspection is one field that does not require you to have a degree which is a good thing in these times of recession, where people are looking to save money on education and degrees that are costly and long. But most importantly, home inspection is a profession that is widely respected. Moreover, it is deemed as something that is professional and career oriented.

There are various avenues where you can get home inspector course education. As home inspection is a technical field, its education is not widely available, though many colleges and institutes offer this education. A typical course runs for only a few months as compared to a whole degree. The home inspector course provides you with the basics of home inspection. These basics or the foundation courses help you to become more aware of the field of home inspection.

The first place where you can look for a home inspector course is online. There are various online technical colleges which are now offering short courses on inspection of homes. These courses are quite exhaustive and offer you a broad based curriculum. Many people believe that home inspection is rather an all out practical job, where you would be getting your hands dirty during home inspections.

On the contrary, this is certainly not the case; inspection of home is very technical job which requires the experience and expertise of the home inspectors in order to spot the problems in houses which are not detectable to home owners.

So, after you have completed the online education, you must get some sort of practical experience. This experience can be gained by going to the various home inspections technical colleges which not only offer home inspector course, but also apprenticeships that would give you the most needed experience.

Once you are done with the courses whether online or at college, you would have sufficient knowledge to handle new and old home problems that most of the home owners face. You would be able to make preemptive measures on how to solve problems such as water seepage, asbestos, heating and flooring.

These are the basics in any house and it would require an experienced home inspector to identify these problems. When you are involved in acquiring home inspector education, you will also be taught some real estate dealings and determining the prices of the homes that have certain problems. A career of home inspector is certainly very much in demand and would always be, as people buy and sell homes all the time.

Anyone, who is thinking about becoming a home inspector, must get all the information about this field; this is certainly not your common office job. It also has a fair amount of practical and traveling work that is part of the job. Many inspectors travel to different homes for inspections. Some inspectors have their teams to carry out the inspection. All in all, it depends on the individual on how he or she handles a particular home inspection job.